


satisfaction in execution (or, soothing a scarred heart)

by h_mellohi



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Attempted Murder, Bedrock Bros, Canon-Typical Violence, Dream Team SMP Spoilers, Fear, Gen, Injury, Light Angst, Miscommunication, Near Death, Not Canon Compliant, Technoblade is Bad at Feelings (Video Blogging RPF), Technoblade-centric (Video Blogging RPF), fuck ao3 tags all my homies hate ao3 tags, guess we'll see thought, most likely, no beta we die like jack manifold before he rose from hell
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-12
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-16 10:55:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28705524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/h_mellohi/pseuds/h_mellohi
Summary: “Alright, so who is it you have a problem with, then?”“Tommy.”“You’re looking to hire ‘The Blade’? You’re a little too late for that.” He pushed on the door, intending to shut it firmly in her face. “I’m done being a weapon for other people.”(Niki comes to Technoblade with a question, and Techno accepts an invitation to another execution. What happens after, he still isn't sure himself if he made the right choice.)
Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s), Technoblade & TommyInnit (Dream SMP), Tubbo & TommyInnit (Dream SMP)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 295





	satisfaction in execution (or, soothing a scarred heart)

**Author's Note:**

> head full of ideas that i could write that would be relevant to the angst that's happening post-doomsday, but nahhh brain still stuck on bedrock bros i miss them  
> i'll be honest i don't know if i even like this piece i just want it out of my head please  
> enjoy!

An unfamiliar knock came in a clear mid-morning. 

Ranboo had left to go trade at a far away village, and the knock wasn’t his. It was polite, like his, but too sharp. Phil, too, had gone for the day, and the knocking wasn’t him, either. Phil always knocked firmly, twice, before opening the door, trusting Techno as Techno trusted him. And it definitely wasn’t Tommy, who had never once knocked on his door, had always entered by throwing the door open and leaving traces of himself in every corner he touched, and Techno hated that he was still finding those traces, hated that no matter how hard he tried, the memories of Tommy stuck to him like thorns in the fur of his cloak.

Techno stood up from where he had been sitting and writing a to do list for the next few days, grabbing his sword as he walked to the front door, unable to shake the wariness that whoever was at the door was a threat, despite how politely they knocked.

Standing on his front porch was a young woman with pink hair, a cloak over her shoulder and a sword at her side. Despite the weapon, she didn’t look poised to attack.

“Niki, right?” Techno asked, uncertainty tainting his tone. “I didn’t know you knew where I lived.”

“It’s not as much of a secret as it used to be,” Niki explained, sounding apologetic. “Fundy was able to tell me the right direction.”

“Ah.” Now Techno’s grip did tighten on his sword. “Last time Fundy came here, it was to try and execute me. I hope you’re not gonna try and attempt the same thing.”

“No, not to you, and I’m really sorry about that. I don’t have a problem with you, Technoblade.” 

Provided no further explanation, Techno’s brows knit together. “Alright, so who is it you have a problem with, then?”

“Tommy.”

Techno’s heart thumped loud in his chest, and the voices that had been quietly rising racketed up in sudden force, screaming warnings and pleas, but not for his own safety. He exhaled, betraying nothing about the inner workings of his head. “So, what, you’re looking for me to kill them?” Techno asked dryly. “You’re looking to hire ‘The Blade’? You’re a little too late for that.” He pushed on the door, intending to shut it firmly in her face. “I’m done being a weapon for other people.”

“No, no, wait!” Niki wedged herself between the door and the frame, looking at Techno with earnest and compassionate eyes. Techno wasn’t sure why, but he felt more uncomfortable then than he had felt around anyone else in recent memory. “We are not asking for you to kill him, I can take care of that myself.” Silence lingered in the air as she waited for a response, or maybe a question. Techno didn’t speak, so she continued. “I only came here because I wanted to ask if you wanted to watch him die.”

Techno wrestled the surprise off his face, tightening his jaw to hide his reaction. “Oh, yeah? Why would you think I’d want to watch that kid die?”

“Please, he is not a kid,” Niki scoffed, eyes flashing. “He’s caused enough hurt to a lot of people that I think that doesn’t really apply to him any longer, you know?” Techno recognized those words in different phrasing far too well, directed at him several years ago, but trying to apply those words to Tommy left him at a loss.

He knew of the nights Tommy forced himself to stay awake all night so he wouldn’t have to deal with any nightmares and he knew of the way Tommy’s eyes would turn to shattered glass if Techno said the wrong thing, and he wondered who changed the threshold of adulthood away from age to some nebulous amount of actions perceived by others.

“And if I say I don’t want to go?” Techno asked carefully, suddenly thankful that Phil and Ranboo had left for the day. 

“That’s fine! I just wanted to extend the offer. We’ll be doing it with or without you, so no worries.” Techno didn’t know who ‘we’ was, but it certainly indicated that Tommy would be outnumbered. Niki’s smile stayed just as cheerful, as if she was offering that they go on a picnic and not to execute a kid. Not that Techno had any room to talk on that front, he supposed. Although, he wasn’t exactly being peer pressured this time, he could admit that much.

He didn’t know what made him say yes. The voices in his head screamed for him to go, but also screamed for him to rescue Tommy, which Techno thought was unnecessary. Maybe Techno was just curious whether this near-stranger was actually serious about killing Tommy. Last he’d heard of her, she had been defying Schlatt, or working in a bakery. He wasn’t sure.

Technoblade followed Niki out the door, armor on and crossbow loaded. Niki didn’t seem to care, the conversation she tried to carry with Techno as they walked through the nether was light and completely free of the plans she had proposed to him just minutes earlier. Techno responded in the way that normal conversations were supposed to go, wondering how far Niki really planned to go.

They exited the portal in the center of Dream SMP, and picked their way through the ruins of the community house, water still lapping at the edges like it would ever fix the scars that had been burned through the area. Techno’s heart twinged in slight pain, but not for an ugly house he had no attachment to, and not because walking these paths reminded him of sneaking through with invisibility potions with someone he almost called a friend, running through the streets in a mad dash to their next hidden location. He didn’t know why it hurt, but he blamed it on the way the voices in his mind hadn’t shut up in what felt like hours at this point. He wished, briefly, that he had stayed home, but he knew that wouldn’t have done anything except increase the swell of voices at his inaction.

Techno sighed, and they continued on the path.

It came to a split in the path and a familiar scene, and Techno saw three familiars, some more familiar than others. Tommy, Tubbo, and Jack Manifold all sitting on a well-worn wooden bench, chatting easily. Techno didn’t bother to listen in on their conversation as he and Niki approached, keeping his face impassive even as Tommy became the first to notice him. 

“Technoblade?” Fear crept into Tommy’s voice, and Techno wondered again at what point Niki began believing that Tommy was some monster she needed to destroy to finally find her happiness. No real monsters had voices that shook like that. Techno’s didn’t. “What- what the hell are you doing here, bitch?!”

“Ah, just passing through,” Techno lied, unsure why no one else is moving. Until they did.

Jack -- who Techno could’ve sworn he killed at the most recent battle, that was familiar to him even if nothing else about the man was -- slipped behind Tubbo, wrenching one of his arms behind his back with one hand and holding a diamond sword to Tubbo’s neck with the other. Tubbo yelped, instantly catching Tommy’s attention as he struggled, but when Tommy began to move toward him Niki stepped between them, the tip of her netherite sword poking at Tommy’s chest.

The air went still. Tubbo sucked in panicked breaths from Jack’s hold, eyes wide, and Tommy’s hands slowly raised as Niki forced him to take steps backward until his back was pressed up against the fence that overlooked the cliff their bench is on, sword now pointed up at his throat. 

“Niki?” Tommy stammered, head twisting to look below the cliff edge and back at the woman in front of him, swallowing tightly. “Niki, Jack, what the actual fuck are you guys doing? This isn’t- this isn’t funny, guys, it really isn’t.”

Techno watched from a few steps back, a silent observer, almost overwhelmed with the pain in his head and his chest that he forced himself to work through. This wasn’t a big deal. It wasn’t. He was getting what he deserved. Was he? The scene was almost too familiar, ancient memories before protection and mentoring, memories that Techno thought he had left far behind him.

“Jack,” Tubbo tried. “Jack Manifold, please put the sword down. This kind of hurts, Jack.” His voice was much calmer than Tommy’s, almost convincing, but not nearly enough.

“Sorry, Tubbo!” Jack said, far too cheerfully. Tubbo winced as the grip on his arm was tightened. “Just some business to take care of, can’t have you interfering with this one.”

Understanding dawned on Tubbo’s face, quicker than Techno would’ve thought, and his face paled as he looked out at his friend again. “Tommy?”

“Shut up,” Niki snapped, voice shaking with the kind of rage that had been repressed for a long time. “Shut up, for once in your lives, and listen to me. You never listen to us, but you’re going to listen now.” Tommy’s eyes fractured for a second, and where there should have been fury on any other occasion, there was a slight emptiness before he snapped back to the present, breaths laden with anxiety leaving his lips quick. “For far too long, you have pushed us to the side, you have used us for your stupid wars and then abandoning us when it suits you. You think we will just follow behind you like stupid animals but we will not. Not anymore.”

“Wh- Niki?” Tommy asked, almost helplessly. Genuine confusion was tangled in his words, though it didn’t seem to reach Niki’s ears. “Niki, I thought we were friends, we were- part of L’manburg, and Pogtopia together, what the hell?”

“No,” Niki snarled. “We may have been allies once, but you ruined that when you ruined L’manburg’s peace by burning George’s house and causing all of this to happen!” With her free hand she swept her arm wide, and Tommy almost flinched. “If it hadn’t been for your stupid, reckless actions, then L’manburg would still be standing. Tommy, do you even realize that most of the awful things that happen on this server are your fault?”

Techno frowned, then, almost opening his mouth to interject. That wasn’t true.

“That’s not true!” Tommy shot back, though his voice was not the furious rebuttal Techno had expected. It was desperate, exhausted, worn down by repeatedly defending himself against these same words. Another far too familiar scene. Techno’s stomach turned. “Not everything is my fault, not- it can’t all be my fault.”

“Someone has to take the blame,” Niki responded lightly. “Wilbur is-” her voice trembled with anguish, briefly. “-dead, and Dream is unreachable.”

“So what, you’re going to fuckin’ murder me since you can’t get to them?” Tommy spat out. 

Niki’s voice was deadly calm as she pressed the edge of her sword a little further against Tommy’s neck. “Yes.”

“That’s fucked up. That’s really, really fucked up,” Tommy’s voice shook, leaning against the fence as much as he could to escape the reach of Niki’s sword. His eyes darted around, falling on Techno. “Why are you still here, then? Happy to watch a fucking murder? Yeah, I bet you are, you prick.”

“I invited him!” Niki said cheerfully before Techno got a chance to speak. “I figured if anyone would want to see you die, it’d be him. After all, you betrayed and used him too, just like you did to us”

“Well, he betrayed me,” Tommy muttered instantly, like some automatic reflex. He continued to look at Techno, though, something unreadable in his eyes. It looked like hope, buried under the truth he was slowly realizing. “Is that true, Techno? You’re not doing anything, you’re really here to just watch me die?” He laughed, bitterly, and Techno forced his gaze away from Tommy to Tubbo, who was still stuck in Jack’s hold, not even struggling anymore, just watching Tommy with wide, fearful eyes. Tommy continued to speak. “Niki, you’re not actually going to kill Tubbo, too, right?”

“Only if you try and make a break for it,” Jack piped up. “We’d rather not, though, Tubbo is actually a pretty decent guy, unlike you.”

“Jack!” Tubbo shouted again, sounding scandalized, inflections of hurt and betrayal in his voice as he drew the attention toward him. “I thought you moved into Snowchester to hang with me and Tommy, was this- was this really what your plan was all along?” Whatever jubilant response Jack gave was lost to Techno’s ears as he looked at Tommy again, still trying to pick out his expression. 

Tommy exhaled shakily, looking at Niki with quiet fear and a weary smile. “So this is how it ends, huh? No fighting Dream, no discs… none of that. Fuck.”

“You and your stupid discs,” Niki whispered, and blood began to drip down Tommy’s neck where the blade had begun to cut into his skin, just barely. “Nobody cares about those discs except you, Tommy, and if you’re gone then no one will care at all.”

Techno’s mind roared, the voices increasing tenfold in begging, bargaining, pleading for him to do anything. But he waited for Tommy to pull his annoying charm up again, to try and talk his way out of the situation like he always did, every single infuriating time he wormed his way into peoples’ hearts and stayed there like a scar long after he left.

“Uh…” The intonation barely left Techno’s lips, lost in the chaos unfolding in front of him, the kind of chaos he so often sought out, but right now wanted to be as far away from as possible

Techno’s scarred and twisted heart thumped against his chest, so loud it nearly blocked out the screaming in his head. His mouth was dry, and trying to turn his thoughts into words left his head even more confused than moments before. Why wasn’t Tommy saying anything? Wasn’t Tommy’s whole thing believing, like an idiot, that he wouldn’t die, that his plot armor would protect him despite the consequences of his actions? So why was he doing nothing to stop Niki from shoving her sword straight through him?

His head wailed. Techno watched tears start to form in Tubbo’s eyes. Tommy was far too quiet, a familiar weariness settling over him as he looked past Niki, not really looking at anything at all. 

“Goddammit,” Techno muttered through gritted teeth, guilt or old memories scrabbling at the scar. Without pausing his movements, he raised his crossbow with one hand, firing it into Jack’s shoulder and reloading it. Jack cried out as Tubbo tore away from him, creating distance between the two as Jack clutched his bleeding shoulder, doubling over in pain. 

Techno pressed the loaded crossbow to the side of Niki’s head, refusing to look over at Tommy. “Alright, lower the sword,” he said simply. “I’m done watching this.”

Niki’s head whipped to the side, glaring at him. “Please don’t get in between this, Techno. I thought you of all people would understand what we’re trying to do here.”

“Yep, I do.” 

_ The only universal language is violence. _

Tommy, leaning over the lava, an empty look in his eye as Techno walked him away from it. Tommy, curled up in his small underground space, staring at the wall for hours until Techno threw something at him. Tommy, growing in confidence, finally something akin to someone that Techno recognized. Tommy, standing by Techno’s executioner, leaving him, again.

Did Tommy deserve to be saved? No. 

But did he deserve to die, like this?

Techno’s sword slid up under Niki’s, slowly lifting it away from Tommy’s neck. No one spoke aloud, but the fury in Niki’s eyes said enough.

“Duck,” Techno muttered out of the side of his mouth, and though he hadn’t named anyone, Tommy did, ducking out of the way as Niki attempted to swing her sword around and run it through Tommy. Tommy yelped, dashing to the side as Techno clashed his sword with hers, netherite screeching as he battled Niki. He was mildly surprised at her skill, but all the raw skill in the world wouldn’t ever be enough to keep up with the experience that Techno knew he had over her. Never enough to match up with the Blood God.

As they fought, Jack Manifold recovered enough to throw himself at Tubbo, diamond and iron clanging together as Tubbo fought back against him. Tommy scrambled up to Tubbo, but Jack turned suddenly, slamming his good shoulder into Tommy’s chest and sending him careening over the edge of the cliff where the oak fence had broken away. Tubbo yelled his friend’s name, briefly catching Techno’s attention and allowing Niki to land a hit against his armor, stunning him for a moment. His vision went red and the voices screamed and Techno swung his sword downward, Niki’s shoulder filling his vision.

Niki’s sword clattered to the ground, and she gripped the cut in her upper arm, continuing to glare up at Techno. “Why would you do this, Techno?” she yelled, eyes blazing. “Don’t you want to see him dead?”

“Assuming that was your first mistake,” Techno said evenly. “Get out of here before I change my mind about sparing you.”

The voices howled for blood, and it was against his better judgement that Techno did not give into them. 

He blinked twice, clearing the blood from his eyes and the screams from his mind. When he opened his eyes, Niki and Jack were gone.

“Technoblade?” Tubbo’s tremulous voice entered his ears, and when he looked over at the younger kid, he noticed the dark stain on the side of his shirt. He couldn’t tell whether it was Tubbo’s blood or someone else’s, and he found he didn’t really care.

“Government,” he acknowledged. Then, “Where’s Tommy?”

“He fell over the cliff, but he had a water bucket, so he’s alright, I think.” Tubbo responded. “And, you know you really don’t have to call me government. I’m not that, anymore. I’m just Tubbo.”

Techno huffed, unsure if it was amusement he felt or simply pure hysteria fed by adrenaline.

But there hadn’t been any response from below, and so Tubbo peered over the edge. “You alright, Tommy?” There was still no response, and Tubbo’s face went slack with sudden fear. “Wait, Tommy?” Techno turned on his heel, leaning over the rotting fence. He said nothing, just intently scanned the area below as Tubbo worriedly called out for his friend, looking for that ugly shade of bright blond hair. 

He almost didn’t see it through the blood and dirt covering his body, but Tommy’s hand grasped the side of the cliff, pulling himself up onto a small ledge and looking up at the two of them. “I’m alright! Missed my fuckin’ bucket, but I lived!” he called gleefully up at them. Fresh blood running down the side of his face and down his neck, staining his white t-shirt with dirt and blood, not unfamiliar to how Techno had found Tommy in his cabin that first time. “Hey, Tubbo. Technoblade.” The grin dropped from Tommy’s face as he said that last word, and Techno hated the sigh of relief that sat in his throat as Tommy continued to climb up the cliff toward them.

The top part of the overlook was sheer, too sheer for Tommy to climb up even with his height. Side by side with Tubbo, Techno found himself stretching out his hand, each of them grabbing one of Tommy’s hands and pulling him up over the fence. 

Tommy’s calloused palms felt somehow too rough against Techno’s hand, and he let go far too fast, nearly sending Tommy headlong into the bench if not for his other hand being in Tubbo’s, pulling him back.

Tommy sat up slowly, slumped against the bench, dropping his bloody head onto one bruised hand. Tubbo stood up, muttering about health potions, but Tommy tugged at his hand that he still hadn’t let go of, and Tubbo relented, sitting down next to him, looking just as weary. 

“You got any potions of healing, Techno?” Tommy rasped, wiping blood from this forehead. It was still dripping from the cut on his neck and staining his shirt further, and Techno resisted the urge to press a cloth to it. Tubbo beat him to giving in, pulling out a stained piece of cloth and forcing Tommy to press it to the side of his head

“No,” Techno said honestly, leaning against the wooden fence they had just pulled Tommy up and over. “I wasn’t expecting to need them today.”

“Right,” Tommy spat out through a slightly swollen lip, sounding more tired than angry. He winced as he pulled the cloth away, wet with fresh blood. “Because you came to watch us -- me -- die.” 

“I was weighing my options,” Techno replied simply, not trusting himself to speak much further without spilling either his own thoughts or what the voices were saying, which were quickly becoming far too entangled for his liking. 

“So, what, you decided I was worth more alive than dead? I thought you hated me.”

_ Sure, but that doesn’t mean I want you dead _ . _ Or that you deserve to die yet. _ Techno pushes down the immediate sentence that rises on his tongue, in favor of a simple, “Yep,” followed by an attempt at an explanation that would make sense, “I think Phil would be pretty mad if he found out I got you killed for good.”

“Phil won’t care,” Tommy said solemnly, rolling his neck back and hissing when it stretched the cut on his neck. Techno blinked, surprised at the certainty. “Phil… doesn’t care about me. That’s pretty clear.” That couldn’t be further from the truth, but that wasn’t Techno’s issue to get in the middle of. 

“Seems like Niki and Jack don’t like us much either, now,” Tubbo said quietly, eyes suddenly shooting wide. Techno did not understand how they had gotten this far if their reaction time was this slow. “Holy crap, they really just tried to murder you!”

“Yeah, what the fuck was that?” Tommy exploded, looking as if the unfolded events had only just hit him. “Jesus, if it hadn’t been for Technoblade doing almost nothing until he did something, I’d probably be fuckin’ dead!” He cleared his throat, wincing again, and Techno was starting to wish he had brought potions of healing if only to spare himself from watching Tommy just sit in pain. “Uh, thank you, Technoblade. I guess.” The words sounded like it pained him to say, or that could’ve been the head wound.

“Yep,” Techno responded gruffly, adjusting his stance so he wasn’t resting quite so heavily on the fence. 

“Well, what do we do now?” Tubbo groaned, dropping the back of his head against the seat of the bench with a loud enough thunk that Techno nearly winced in sympathy. “Jack knows about Snowchester, which sucks, and this place is super open, and who knows who else wants to kill us!”

“Yeah, you guys seem to be targets for some reason,” Techno said flatly. “Wonder why.”

“Well if you seem so certain why we’re targets, why help us in the first place, then?” Tommy fired back, and Techno found he had no answer. There was a brief, frozen pause, and Tommy’s tone shifted, a question on his lips that Techno could instantly read the ending too. “Techno-”

“No.” He instantly shut that down, holding back a shudder of revulsion. He was not allowing Tommy back in his house, he would not be taking him in, not again. He would not let that raised scar Tommy had left on him be ripped open again, open himself up to more pain, only to get hurt again when Tommy inevitably chose his power over his friendship. He would not. “Absolutely not, Tommy.”

“What?” Tubbo asked, entirely oblivious to the actual conversation taking place. 

“Fine,” Tommy snarled, standing abruptly, pulling Tubbo with him. “Come on, Tubbo. We’re going home. My head fuckin’ hurts.”

Home turned out to be a short walk across the wooden path to those dilapidated doors in the side of a dirt hill, slamming shut with enough force to shake the grass above it. Techno exhaled, sheathing his sword, and walked home without a word. 

He would not be able to let Tommy into his home ever again. But he could talk to people, or more accurately, get Phil or Ranboo to talk to people for him. Find out who else was going after Tommy, who else was blaming this battered kid for every single problem they had faced, so that Techno never had to get in the middle of a situation like that ever again.

“That’s all it is, chat,” he said aloud as he walked the well-worn cobblestone path back home. “And so you guys don’t get all antsy and make me feel like my head is about to explode, alright?” Tommy may have scarred his heart, and so if this was the easiest way to soothe that scar for the time being, then so be it. It was for his own sake, and nothing else.

The voices called him a liar. Techno couldn’t find it in him to disagree. 

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading! if you want to chat more, im on twitter at @sbimellohi  
> comments and kudos appreciated mwah <3


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